Luke Varney: Bought by Pardew from the third tier Crewe Akexandra in May 2007 for 2m rising to based on appearances. Sold to Derby County in January 2009 for 1m. 10 goals in 61 games.
Don't understand the stick Varney gets. I quite liked him, hardworker, two goals against Palace. Certainly overpaid for him though, as was the case with a great many of Pardew's transfer. Painfully ironic that we had to sell him for half what Pardew paid for him in order to fund Pardew's severance payment.
In 1987 we signed Port Vale hotshot Andy Jones for £350,000 which was quite a lot of money for us back then. I think I remember him scoring a screamer against Spurs at Selhurst, but he always looked a bit overweight ?
In 1987 we signed Port Vale hotshot Andy Jones for £350,000 which was quite a lot of money for us back then. I think I remember him scoring a screamer against Spurs at Selhurst, but he always looked a bit overweight ?
Am sorry but Dennis Rommedahl wasnt a waste of money... that goal alone makes the £2m fee worth it
I partly think the issue was that he wasnt played correctly, the ball would always go to his feet rather than pinging a ball just behind the defender and letting him use his pace to run on to it
Spent big on Diawara, looked ok but never got that many chances, not sure what we got for him when sold.
According to Murray we got most of this spend back. As we did with a lot of Dowie's. The bigger financial losses were Pardew's buys. Conclusion - our biggest waste of money was Pardew!
Christiansen - the only game I saw him in was a pre-season game at the Valley (against Ipswich?) and I don't think he touched the ball. And then later it was rumoured we couldn't afford to play him! Hasselbaink - way past his sell by date, what was Dowie thinking? Amdy Faye - dreadful; could he even control a ball? Marcus Bent - certainly not another Darren! Traore - the league cup game alone Andy Gray - appeared to be bought on the strength of his two goals against us Ralph Milne - is this the bloke that kept falling over?
Taking everything into consideration (transfer fee + effort on pitch + goals scored + overall corrosive impact on team) it has to be Marcus Bent. I would argue that signing him rather than keeping Bothroyd and playing him in preference to Euell, Jeffers and Lisbie was a huge error.
His career (in which he was relegated from the Premiership with 4 different clubs: Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, Leicester City and ourselves) seemed to be based on getting himself signed on the highest possible wage, playing a couple of good games early on (he usually scored a blinder of a goal on his debut, did for us and Palace) and then coasting until sold elsewhere. Very cynical.
The big signings in our last season in the Prem wasted nearly all our money and got us relegated so Traore has to be up there.
The big signings in our first season down blew the remaining money and consigned us to years of decline and so Varney and Mcleod have to be seen as big wastes of money.
The badly chosen, expensive players in that 2 year period really wrecked us.
Comments
Can't go past Marcus Bent, c--t of a bloke, c--t of a footballer.
Special mention for Diawara, utterly appalling defender who looked like a drunk Bambi on ice on the ball.
2 French titles
3 league cups
2 French FA cups
Numerous champions league appearance.
He must be gutted he left.
I don't remember him doing to much wrong he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Conclusion - our biggest waste of money was Pardew!
With Crossbars at £100 a close second.
Sadly, he was signed to play in the English Premier League and was about as convincing as a one legged bloke in an arse kicking contest.
Hasselbaink - way past his sell by date, what was Dowie thinking?
Amdy Faye - dreadful; could he even control a ball?
Marcus Bent - certainly not another Darren!
Traore - the league cup game alone
Andy Gray - appeared to be bought on the strength of his two goals against us
Ralph Milne - is this the bloke that kept falling over?
forced on Chris Powell by Duchatelet!
His career (in which he was relegated from the Premiership with 4 different clubs: Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, Leicester City and ourselves) seemed to be based on getting himself signed on the highest possible wage, playing a couple of good games early on (he usually scored a blinder of a goal on his debut, did for us and Palace) and then coasting until sold elsewhere. Very cynical.
He cost us more points than he won.
The big signings in our first season down blew the remaining money and consigned us to years of decline and so Varney and Mcleod have to be seen as big wastes of money.
The badly chosen, expensive players in that 2 year period really wrecked us.